A Gate of Night (A Shade of Vampire #6)(37)

Eli smiled. “I know who I am and what I can offer. That’s not what I’m worried about.” He gulped, his eyes on my neck.

I took a short breath. He’s craving my blood.

As if reading my mind, he threw me an explanation as he began pacing the floor. “If I need to turn to a human just to be able to escape… Once I drink your blood, Sofia, I’m not sure I can stop.”

“You can,” I said with a curt nod of determination. “You will, but before we worry our heads over the consequences of you drinking my blood, we have to think of a way to escape first.”

Eli nodded shortly then stopped his pacing before furrowing his brows. “You say that the only places they allow you to go to are this bedroom and the gardens, correct?”

I nodded.

“How do they make sure you stay within these boundaries?”

I pointed Shadow’s way. “Once, I tried to go where I wasn’t supposed to and well, let’s just say that Shadow has already had a taste of my blood.”

“Shadow? That’s his name?”

“That’s what I decided to call him. He doesn’t really answer to the name. He just answers to Kiev snapping his fingers. Kiev calls them beasts.”

“Them? You mean there’s more?”

I nodded. “More than I care to count. All over The Blood Keep, but Shadow here is tasked to guard me. He has my scent and everything. Kiev told me that Shadow would be able to track me down even if I were miles away.”

Eli stared at the beast for a good long while before he gave me a determined nod and said the one thing I desperately wanted to hear.

“I think I know a way out of here.”

Chapter 21: Derek

No matter what I did to convince Ibrahim that there was no way I’d calm down as long as I felt far away from Sofia, he didn’t budge.

“I understand.” He would shrug and shuffle his feet. “But the Ageless has spoken.”

While I understood how easily the power the witches had could be abused, I didn’t understand their blind submission to the Ageless. I didn’t understand how they could just sit on that power when they could be an agent for good.

However, I had to accept that to reason and argue would be futile, so I had to settle for the next best thing: music. Whenever I returned to my quarters, I would go directly to the guitar they’d provided for me and strum the song I’d hummed many times to Sofia. It was a wordless song that was ours, one that helped make memories of her more vivid.

As time went by, it felt like I was losing control more than I was gaining it. I resorted to using wooden utensils, because I’d already seared my lips and tongue more times than I could count with the heat that was coming from my palms.

I would never gain control of the power—not without her. The prophecy still stayed true. We were strongest together and we were weakest apart. I couldn’t believe that I’d doubted it even for a moment.

Music and memories got me through every day, but my patience was wearing thin and my training with Ibrahim was getting nowhere. The warlock having already given up on me, I was summoned to the quarters of the Ageless.

She lived in a palace made of pure white marble and studded with red rubies. I was brought inside and through a series of halls, gardens and brightly-lit rooms. I couldn’t help but contrast the place with the Elder’s castle. The palace was to light as The Blood Keep was to darkness. It felt like hours before Ibrahim and I finally arrived at a courtyard, beautified by a variety of strange-looking flowers and plants. The Ageless was standing in the middle of a sand circle, located at the center of the courtyard. Her eyes were closed and her face was turned toward the heavens, a peaceful look on her beautiful face.

With the sunset serving as her backdrop, she looked nothing short of heavenly.

Ibrahim cleared his throat to get her attention, but whatever she was doing, it seemed she wasn’t going to stop for anything. We just had to wait our turn.

Ibrahim motioned for me to follow him toward a gazebo where we sat to wait for the Ageless to be ready to meet with us.

“So you’ve finally given up on me,” I told Ibrahim, almost in an accusatory tone. “Didn’t I tell you that I wouldn’t be able to control myself? Not without Sofia?”

“I didn’t give up on you. I’m simply taking extreme measures in order to get you ready. Yes. You told me many, many times.”

“And you’ve finally decided to listen? What exactly are these extreme measures, Ibrahim?”

“You’ll find out soon enough. What you should know right now is that we’re running out of time. If you really want to save Sofia, you need to cooperate with us.”

My pace quickened. “Why? What’s happened to her?”

Ibrahim remained silent.

My jaw clenched. “Ibrahim, at some point, you people have to trust me. If this is my mission, then I need to know what I’m up against. You can’t keep me in the dark forever.”

“I know,” he nodded. “That’s why we’re here. We’re going to try to convince the Ageless to trust you.”

My eyes lit up. “Really?” I couldn’t hide the relief from my voice.

“Don’t get excited just yet. Odds are that she isn’t going to agree. Understand, Derek, that your kind—whichever kind you belong to, vampires or humans—haven’t really given us much reason to see you as trustworthy.”